Ssshhhh

The good news is that the two sick children are feeling better.
It was a little quieter here for a while, though. My daughter could not talk very well for a while so she was whispering to save her voice. Patiently, her brother played with her for at least half an hour before asking, "Why are we whispering?"

Traditions over the years

Many of our holiday traditions have evolved as we had kids, and as the children have grown. I used to spend hours assembling our tree, then putting on (and trying to "hide") the lights. Now, I drag the pre-lit tree from the garage, put it up in ten minutes and spend another half-hour trying to find all the little plugs to make sure the whole thing lights up. The older two swarm in when I'm done and have the whole thing decorated before my husband gets home from work!

We've gone from bows and store-bought ornaments to mostly unique, one-of-a-kind, handmade treasures.

I'm thinking now of the evolution of the Christmas lists. (Maybe it's the writer in me?) It's amazing to see how we've gone from yelling that they want each and every thing advertised on tv, to drawing pictures, to making three page lists, to printing out web links to--this year.

My eleven-year-old's list is only one page but is divided into columns. This year, she has made a separate column for the items she wishes to receive in her stocking, as well as under the tree!

My eight-year-old has not made a list. He has worried aloud, many times, that he does not even know what he will do with coal when he gets it. (Although, when they wrote letters to Santa at school, his went like this: "Dear Santa, If you bring me an iPod Touch, I will give you cookies and fetchables for your reindeer.")

The two-year-old is not making a list, yet. He has discovered that there are PRESENTS under the tree! This makes sense, of course, as we are practicing singing "Happy Birthday to Jesus." I don't know if he has figured out how Santa fits in to all of this yet but he certainly knows who he is!

They have each picked out at least one present for each of their siblings already. They've carefully wrapped them and put them under the tree and keep giggling, wondering if the other will like what they've bought. I hope that tradition never changes.

Third time is the charm!

With five minutes to spare!

13 hours, 5 minutes

I only need 13,400 more words. So just a little over 1,000 words an hour...
(And then I just need to save this post to remind myself: If I can pull this off, I have no excuse during a summer month with no holidays!) ;)

Pushin' it

I do work best under a deadline but this puts procrastination at a whole, new level!
The good news is that I have written over 30,000 words in a month.
What that means, of course, is that to "win", I only need to write a little over 19,000 before midnight, tomorrow.
No pressure.
I'm not worried.

Writing 101

Show don't tell.
Don't talk down to your readers.
Don't use two words when one will work. Unless you're behind on your wordcount for NaNoWriMo. Then, see if you can squeeze in four.

The skinny on the fat

I bought a Florida avocado which bears a sticker claiming "30% less fat than the leading California avocado."
It is also at least three times the size of the California avocadoes, so I'm not sure I come out ahead.

The 10K race

I am WAY behind on NaNo stats but at this point, I will be happy if I can hit 10,000 words tonight. It does pain me a little to type words that I know will be cut as soon as I get into edit mode. No time to think of that now, though! Nanowrimo is about pushing forth and writing 50,000 words. No one said that they had to be 50,000 golden words to "win!"

I hope the words are flowing for all of my other, crazy Nano buddies! For the rest of you (likely saner) people, I hope you are enjoying your weekend!

No excuses

The most wonderful hubby took the older two to the highschool football game tonight and the little guy is in bed, which means: I have TIME to work on my wordcount!
Middle son is bringing a friend home from the game to spend the night. I usually try to stay up until I think they are asleep (which may not take long tonight) but otherwise, means time to up the wordcount!
(I wanted to have his friend over tomorrow night as my daughter has been invited to a sleep over tomorrow night but the friend really wanted to come tonight. Which works out better, now that I think about it. C will be so tired by tomorrow night that by the time we get N off to her sleepover, he may be ready for bed, himself! The little guy certainly will so there may yet be time to up the wordcount!)

Most wonderful hubby is then taking older two to a concert on Monday night. (Yes, it is a school night. Yes, they will be wiped out. The important thing here is that the little guy will go to bed, they will be gone and I will have another chance to seriously up the word count!)

Now I just have to stop blogging and...up the other word count.

No dinosaurs in the Revolutionary War

The Veteran's Day program at my older children's school was a very nice production. The toddler did as well as could be expected. He was just confused when one class began to sing "Yankee Doodle Dandy." He kept looking for Barney.

The quest for the matching sock

New kids book idea:
I just have to come up with a story where a Young Indiana Jones-type kid battles seemingly insurmountable mountains of laundry, searches an 8-year-old's room for one small piece of a uniform that is the key to unlocking an even great mystery.

Perhaps there is cute, pre-teen, unknown vampire out there who is truly good and wants to protect a young girl who has found the secret to defeating evil, dirty dishes.

(No need to develop either idea into a video game. They would absolutely, virtually fold laundry but would never come upstairs to find two matching socks!)

Procrastination defines me

I need to be writing but I really need to clean one of the fish tanks, too.
I can't find the fish net that I use to scoop little fish out of the water. I think that is a sign that it can wait. I think I might go with that.

Running behind

I am always late and/or rushing. So it should come as no surprise that I am already behind on my Nano progress. November 1st marks the beginning of Nano and is also my youngest son's birthday.
I had planned to get started as soon as possible. I took the boys trick-or-treating on Halloween while my husband shuttled my daughter and best friend to and from a dance. The best friend was spending the night here afterwards, and I usually stay up until I think they're either asleep or close.

Of course, the best of intentions has never actually helped anyone. Saturday was a busy day from beginning to end and by the stroke of midnight--when Nano officially begins--I'd lost my resolve. I did set the clocks back before going to bed, hoping that might inspire me. Rather than believing I had any extra time, I just knew that the youngest (who is years away from being able to tell time) was not going to sleep in and went to bed myself.

Sunday I made birthday cake, took a walk with the husband, we took kids out to lunch, we celebrated the toddler's birthday. It was a great day but by day's end, word count was still zero.

Day 2? Yes, I'm here, explaining, complaining and rationalizing my lack of progress rather than writing. I could give you my to-do list for today but I'm sure it looks as full as yours does. So many of you have already made promising progress! I applaud you! Way to go!

I'm still warming up but I'll catch up! This year, I WILL catch up!

Why? Why not?

Here I go, again.
I am going to give NaNo another go.
For those of you who have been long-time visitors, you may recall that I have never finished the 50,000 words in the 30 day time period.

So why do this, again?

It can't hurt. Maybe this will be my year! I'm actually getting a little excited about it--but that is most likely because it is not November, yet.

Join me! http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Make it a surprise, Mom!

I cannot believe that my baby will be two years old on Sunday! I think he grew taller, overnight and the kid isn't just talking--he's conversing.

Unfortunately, I catch myself talking to him like he is older. I was making my "to-do" list this morning and casually asked the little guy what kind of birthday cake he'd like.

His reply (duh!) was OKAY!! He ran over to his high chair and no matter what else I offered, all he wanted was "Happy To You Cake!"
It took over fifteen minutes to convince him that I do not actually have any cake at the moment.

Of course, he can spot mom-guilt as well as anyone! It didn't take too long for him to request a popsicle. I had the fire on this morning while the big kids dressed for school; this little guy is wearing a sweatshirt but he sweetly asked for a popsicle.
Yes.
He (and you) knew I'd say yes.

Wrong cheeks

The squirrels are busy this time of year, collecting any last acorns, nuts or whatever else is still lying out there. I get it. They will not have someone serving them a bowl of cereal in January, when the snow is on the ground.

My toddler will. Not only is he saving his snacks but he is putting them behind him. He shoved squares of Cinnamon Toast Crunch down the back of his pjs, this morning. When you do this, in footy pajamas, they cannot fall out. So you know where I found them. (Not a place I'd like to store food, even in the short term).

Wine pairings

We know that certain types of wine complement certain flavors and foods.

Does a particular wine go with a type of book?

In this case, I thought, how could it not?

I love the bottle! Seven zinfandel wines from 7 wineries are included in "7 zins"; it has fleur de lis accents around the top; it has a wonderful poem on the back. The marketing! The decoration! It's beautiful!

Unfortunately, the wine inside did not measure up to the bottle--or the books.

Why?

The baby is not quite two yet but already wants to know why.
Why? Why! WHY?!?!?

MFA???

Every few years, I decide I need one.

And then change my mind. I really WANT the workshop format and the critique circle.
Can I find that outside of a univerity? Yes.
Have I? No.

The husband wants to know what it will do to HELP me.
(I need the feedback, want the workshop format and these days, adult conversation is always a plus.) Besides, I tell him, if he's hit by a bus, I can go teach classes at the college level.
(He reminds me of the great life insurance plan he has. I'm actually REALLY well set--IF he dies.) With the MFA however, I might actually be able to graduate, write AND teach--EVEN if he lives! ;)

So why have I waited this long?
A number of reasons.

A friend asked me YEARS ago whether or not I really NEEDED it--or if it was, in fact, a fancy shmancy delay tactic. (She already had her degree from Harvard and was pursuing a dual tract in medical school so ONCE in a WHILE, I listened to her!) ;)
(Of course, she was right). I STILL don't have a beautiful, polished novel sitting here so it's easier to say I need to go through an MFA program than to just sit my butt in the chair long enough to edit the crap that I DO have and craft it into something that someone not related to me might want to read. (If I edit it and/or write it for a class, I will HAVE to do it or fail.)

With a toddler at home, it's tough to write and tougher to consider going back to school. (There is a wonderful, well-known university close by who offers an MFA program). I can't pull off studying, writing AND teaching with my kids at the ages that they're at right now. The distance MFAs are calling me right now but it's hard to determine if it is because that is the right move--ore because 20 days away from my family each year sounds like THE way to get my book DONE?!

SO! My writing friends--do you have/want an MFA? Do you participate in a critique circle? I'm curious.

What you see vs. what you get

The issue of whether or not to allow our kids to view President Obama's speech at school was a non-issue. In addition to the Labor Day holiday, my kids had Tuesday off as well. So we watched, together.

What I saw:

The President appear (albiet a few minutes after noon) and give an inspiring, encouraging welcome-back-to-school speech. He spoke of personal responsibility and reminded them that there are no excuses when it comes to your education. He wisely took only fifteen minutes.

What I got:

"He's late! The PRESIDENT is TARDY!"
"What?! Some kids didn't have to go to school until TODAY?!?!?"
"Is it over yet?"
"No, I wouldn't want to get up at 4:30 in the morning."
"Is it over?"
"Yes, I would be paying closer attention if I got to watch this at school--then I would be getting out of class. " "Is it over yet?"

I tried.